2000 Mercedes E320. The car has a damaged door panel, we needed these three parts. The basic trim panel, the lower felt looking part that the speaker grille goes in and the speaker grille. There are other parts to the panel now mind you, but these three parts, I don't want you to guess how much it cost. What I would like more is to hear your thoughts on what would be an OBSCENE amount of money for these three parts for a 12 year old car. This is NOT a top of the line model by any means, pretty common car you see them every day and is worth about $5000-6000.

It's insurance and we tried to find used, they all came more damaged than the one that is coming off the car.

Brian

That just plain sucks. I was on the other end when I was working. I would have customers call me at Corperate complaining about what the dealer told them parts cost and I had to tell them that was correct many times. Sometimes it could really be embarrassing.

The other tough situation that happened when the economy went south was we had suppliers go belly up who provided proprietary parts. Try to tell a customer who has a 140,000 road tractor broken down that you can't supply the part he needs......and don't know when you can.

The alternator on our Opel DD stopped working, the guy at the parts store told me
there were no parts available to service it.
A new one would cost me $368....
No part exchange either, so for a few parts the old alternator is scrap.

A search on the internet got me one from Amazon.de (Germany)
for $84 also brand new, and shipping to Spain cost $30.

I canīt wait to go back and tell that rippoff merchant.

Total cost for a Powermaster alternator from Summit to my door,
shipping and taxes included was $296.

Brian;
Im not surprised. We sell Tremec trans parts and the Mainshaft Reverse gear for a T56 (which is commonly replaced during a rebuild) was $86 over the counter. Its now 3 times that. In 16 months.

Hey Brian; you ever see the deal on genuine Honda S2000 seats? Google it. Several years ago, you couldn't get an assembled seat from Honda. The dealership orders the parts to MAKE a complete seat; which leaves you with a mechanic doing upholstery. It used to be a couple grand in parts, plus labor for ONE seat. And the S2k roadster has 4 bolts that hold the seat in. They were getting ripped off all the time out here

I would hope this is an insurance job and maybe it's a recovery that got vandalized cause as a customer no way I pay that amount for the tiny rip on the very bottom. After seeing that price tag I'd break out the glue and be happy about the fact no one will even see it. Customer pay? Is the only damage the small tear on the bottom?

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